Camping: The Muggle Way
by Kori Bischoff
Summary: The trio plus Ginny go camping. Is it all that it's cracked up to be? They are in their 20's. H/G, R/Hr. Please review! More to come soon!


In time, no one is quite sure when, the great trio added a member to it's group of friends. Hermione was happy to finally have a girl around after years of only having friends that were boys. Even Ron had to admit that his sister fit in great with them. Harry agreed too, of course, since Ginny had become his girlfriend even before the trio increased its number. It was also handy to always have another couple around to double date with, for Ron and Hermione had become a couple a few years back. The four friends were in their early twenties and after defeating Voldemort they thought they could handle any task or adventure that came their way, even camping, muggle style.   
  
It all began one hot July day. The four were living in a flat that they had bought which was located in Hogsmeade. They were all in the living room, bored out of their minds when Harry came up with the idea to go camping. The group all agreed with the idea until they heard the other part of Harry's idea- they should camp the way muggles do, which meant no magic. It took some time for Harry and Hermione (who loved the idea, since she was muggle born) to convince the stubborn Weasleys to agree to no wands. Finally the reluctant Ron and Ginny agreed.   
  
"We can pack and shop for supplies the rest of the day, and be ready by tomorrow morning," Harry said excitedly. "I know a great place to go camping, it even is besides a nice river."  
  
"When have you ever been camping?" Ron asked.  
  
"I was sixteen at the time. It was the summer you all went on vacation and I had nowhere to go. The Dursleys brought me camping because Mrs. Figg fell ill and they didn't trust me along in the house, and they didn't want to cancel their trip, so they brought me along," Harry explained.   
  
Hermione, wanting to be prepared, pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill and started to make a list of items they would need.   
  
Each Person   
  
Tent   
Sleeping bag   
Flashlight   
Clothes   
Bathing Suit   
Lawn chair   
Toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, etc   
Pillow   
Towels   
  
All Together  
  
Food that will not spoil  
A cooler  
Firewood   
Matches/lighter  
Frying pan  
Ice  
Bug Spray  
S'more Supplies  
  
When she was done, Hermione gave everyone a copy of the list and assigned everyone things from the group list. "We're off to go shopping," Ginny said, and Hermione and Ginny left the boys to pack for themselves.   
  
Hermione brought Ginny to muggle London to go shopping. Ginny was fascinated by all of the appliances in the stores and Hermione practically had to drag Ginny into the clothing section. Once Ginny was there, she couldn't stop talking about how cute all of the shirts and shorts were. Hermione wasn't as impressed, but Ginny loved it. All daylight was gone before they got back from their trip.   
  
"What took you two so long? It only took us an hour to find everything we needed," Harry said. The girls went on to show them everything they had bought. Ron and Harry looked at each other and mumbled something that sounded like 'girls.' They all decided that they were tired and went to bed.  
  
The next morning everyone woke up late. As in so late they already missed the bus they were going to take, and had to call up a cab company. They were all busy adding last minutes things to their bags. When everyone was sure they had everything they needed, they called back the taxi company and said they were ready. They then brought their bags outside. Harry was the one who noticed Ron's wand sticking out of the back pocket of his shorts.   
  
"Ron!" Harry exclaimed, "You know we agreed on no wands. Give it to me, so I can put it back inside."  
  
"We might need them," Ron countered, reaching for his wand, but gripped it closer to him instead of giving it to Harry.  
  
"Accio Wands," Harry said, and found himself not only with Ron's wand, but also with Ginny's wand. "Ginny," Harry said in a disapproving tone. She just smiled.  
  
"How'd you do that?" Ron asked dumbfounded.  
  
"It's just a bit of wand less magic I picked up from being an Auror," Harry said, not caring to get into the matter further. He brought the wands back inside and then went to wait for the cab with his friends. Finally the taxi showed up and they loaded in. Harry gave the driver the name and address of the campground, and they were off; leaving the magical world behind.   
  
The sun had begun to set by the time they arrived at the campground. They paid for the weekend and received directions to their site.   
  
"We should pitch our tents before it gets dark," Hermione said, being the voice of reason. The rest agreed.   
  
Hermione and Ginny had finished setting up their tents by the time they realized that Harry and Ron weren't doing the same.   
  
"Why aren't you setting up your tents?" Ginny asked.   
  
Ron and Harry looked at each other embarrassed before saying, "It seem we forgot to bring them." Ginny and Hermione just shook their heads.  
  
"Well, I guess we'll have to share tents. It's a good thing the ones we bought weren't terribly small," Ginny said.   
  
"I wonder how we should pair up," Hermione said suggestively.   
  
"The only possible way!" Ron exclaimed. "Boys in one tent, girls in the other."  
  
"Well I can think of another way to divide ourselves," Hermione said with gleaming eyes. She looked at Ron, but saw that he didn't seem to like her idea.   
  
"There is no way I'm going to let Ginny and Harry be in a tent together. Alone. At night. There is no way I'm going to let that happen."  
  
"Oh Ron, they're been dating for years and are well over the legal age. They're probably going to get married someday. It's not like you can prevent them being alone forever," Hermione reasoned.   
  
"I will prevent it as long as I can. Which means Harry and I in one tent, you and Ginny in the other."  
  
Harry and Ginny looked at each other and rolled their eyes.  
  
"Fine, but we get the bigger tent, since they are ours," Ginny piped in.   
  
"Okay," Ron agreed.   
  
"Let's go get our stuff into the tent," Harry said in disgust of their pink tent.   
  
The rest of the evening was spent setting up camp. Once everyone was set up, the four friends were too tired to even build a campfire. Instead they just washed up and went to bed.  
  
Harry and Ron woke up a couple hours later to screams and Ginny and Hermione trampling into their tent.  
  
"What's wrong?" asked Harry groggily, putting on his glasses.  
  
"There's...there's wild animals out there! They were scratching our tent!"  
  
Ron found his flashlight and peered out the tent door. He saw a raccoon.  
  
"It's just a raccoon," he said.  
  
"But it's scary," Hermione said.  
  
"And mean looking," Ginny added in. The boys looked at each other and tried not to laugh.   
  
"Hermione," Harry reasoned, "you're muggle born, surly you have gone camping before. Why would the raccoon scare you? And both of you have had Care of Magical Creatures, so what is so scary about a raccoon?"  
  
"I don't have my wand," Ginny said, a concept that scared her deeply.   
  
"I'm just not used to wild animals any more, I guess," Hermione said, sounding ashamed.   
  
"Are you two ready to go back to your own tent now?" Ron asked, wanting to get back to sleep.   
  
"No!" Both the girls said, alarmed by the idea.   
  
The girls took over their boyfriend's sleeping bags and fell asleep quickly as the boys sat uncomfortably, watching them. The only thought running through Harry's mind was, 'this is going to be a long night.'   
  
"Are you sure this was a good idea?" Ron asked Harry in a whisper, not wanting to wake the girls.   
  
"I don't know yet," was Harry's only reply. 


End file.
